Tracey Burnette was brought to tears late last month when she arrived home from work to see a clearing in her front yard.

"I knew we were in line to have these trees taken down, and I was not sure what kind of an emotional impact it would have on me," she said. "My mom, Betty Anne Bagley, used to climb those trees when she was growing up and they have always been a part of my yard ever since we built the house in 1970. It was so sad."

Dozens of local residents gathered last week to hear the unpublicized, long-kept-secret history of a 1920s Dawsonville murder.

The Dawson County Historical and Genealogical Society met at the local library on Aug. 21 to hear David Wallace, a great-grandson of Etna Parks, share his family's story on how Parks shot the county sheriff.

Right-of-way acquisition is just starting on a major and unique-for-Georgia retooling of Ga. 400 at Hwy. 53 in Dawson County, one of the region's busiest intersections.

The cost of acquiring the 33 parcels is $9.5 million, a process that could take up to 18 months to complete, said Teri N. Pope, a Hall County-based spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Transportation.